Flying the Il-2

[Romanator21]

The Il-2 is tough, but the only armored parts are around the cockpit. It can easily be destroyed by hitting the wings, and it's usually at much too low of an altitude for the crew to bail.

There is really not much to say about this plane. It's not a fighter, so it's hardly maneuverable. Your only option is to weave side to side, and maybe throw in a slip or skid to confuse the enemy when he shoots. Other than that, pray.

As for performance tips, there are none. The Il-2 is not meant to be fast, or evasive. It's meant to have good fighter cover, and good team work. However, I cruise at maybe 50% power and prop-pitch, sometimes less. Cruise is usually at tree-top height, so mixture is hardly anything to worry about. The radiator does a good job even while closed and left alone. While attacking I use full power, but I might reduce power to help lower the nose for a dive.

It excels as a ground attack aircraft, but it can be very dangerous. Pilots received a Hero of the Soviet Union medal for surviving just 10 sorties. I don't think I've lasted that long in a campaign without being killed either. Part of the problem, ironically, is its huge ammo load. The Soviet philosphy of ground attack was to make repeated passes on a target until it was totally decimated, or until all ammo was exhausted.

However, after the first pass, the enemy is on alert, and now every gun available is being pointed at you. Fighters can also be called onto your position.

So to survive you have to abandon this approach completely and take a minimum load, and make only one hit-and-run pass. (Think of Mosquitos, Beaufighters, etc.)

If you chose to make repeated passes as was the historical Soviet doctrine, then I hope these tips will prolong your life a little bit:

Never fly directly into a target that is shooting at you. After the attack, egress at very low altitude to avoid being hit. Don't show your wings to the guns on the ground by banking. Attack from a variety of angles to spread out the anti-aircraft fire, but also watch out for your wingmen; you don't want to be over the target when a bomb goes off.

When firing rockets, fire a complete salvo all at once, and then bug out. Too many folks will fire a pair at a time and make multiple passes this way. This is dangerous, but also not historical. As tanks require a direct hit you are guaranteed one by firing a whole salvo. For aiming, it helps to set the rocket convergence at the same distance as for the guns and cannon.

There is a trick to dropping bombs accurately, and it works almost always. Initiate a 30-45 degree dive onto the target. Although it's tempting, don't fly in at a shallower angle. Put your target on the cross hairs. At the point of release, pull up slightly so the target "touches" the nose of the plane. If you release your bombs while the target is still under the cross hairs they will fall short. Afterwords, bug out at low level. The cluster munitions and bomblets are effective, but are released slowly. For me these work best as above, but released sooner and at a higher altitude, and then by leveling out and continuing over the target.

[DanLewis]

Thanks Romanator - that's useful to me. I usually fly fighters so am used to tweaking mixtures, prop pitch and so on to get the best performance but I can see that's not needed as much with the Il2. I have found an Il2 flight manual (original translated I assume) for takeoff and cruising (in friendly and unfriendly skies) that also seems useful.

[Avimimus]

Aha! That reminds me of the most important tactic.

1) Perceive the turn radius (at the current speed) and energy level of your opponent.

2) Then perceive what the turn radius and energy level of your opponent will be after making a turn (in essence think ahead two or three maneuvers). One can visualise this as a "flower" of possible maximum turns at current speed, the end point of each petal of the flower then becomes the starting point of its own "flower" of potential turn radii.

3) Any maneuver creates a blind spot that can't be reached from the position the maneuver ends in. It should be possible to set up a situation whereby your aircraft ends up inside of the enemy's turn (thereby denying them a shot).

In this way it is possible to use geometry to deny an opponent the ability to fire on you. In this way I have won a number of fights in aircaft that lacked the turn radius, roll, speed, climb or accelleration of my opponent.

[DanLewis]

Thanks everyone - all good advice!

[=KAG=Bersrk]

Some of my missions...

It was on AirForceWarI...

Task was: kill enemy artillery positions, and dont let german Ju87+Bf109 kill our tanks...

[=KAG=Bersrk]

Another ground attack mission... was very hard, but... As You may see...

One of usual

[=KAG=Bersrk]

One more... Tank busting attack...

[TinyTim]

IL-2 series is one of my favs in the sim, spent more time in them than in all other planes combined (and I play the sim from the demo times).

1. About the defensive gunnery:

Keep in mind your gunner only has 150 precious rounds, but because he is a panicking SOB, he will usually discharge them into empty air before the fighters even enter the gun coverage area, leaving you toothless. That's why I disable the reargunner at the beginning of the flight, but that means I have to constantly keep switching between front and back seat to check your 6. Of course the gunner is quiet as a mouse when fighters approach - you only hear the shooting, and it's usually too late then.

When attacked by enemy fighters, I usually keep the gun quiet and fly straight - this makes them think my gunner is either out of ammo or killed, and that I haven't spotted them. Usually they cockily approach directly from rear presenting a nice target. Use a bit of bank, so enemy is not directly behind your tail, wait for the right moment and open fire just before you estimate he would. UBS hits very hard from front, especially the inline engines. Again - don't waste ammo, you only have something like 10 seconds worth of it. Versus 109s with no gunpods and/or no 108s you stand a very good chance of shooting him down this way. Versus 190s and up-gunned 109s you'll need a bit of luck. But remember - deceiving them into thinking your gunner is incapacitated is cruical!

2. Antitank loadouts:

IL-2 is one of the best antitank platforms in the game. The IL-2 Type3M sports two fast firing 37mm antitank cannons with 50 shells each. These can easily destroy anything up to Panter when you shoot into the side or the back of the tank approaching horizontaly. You can even take out Tigers with this weapon, but you'll have to climb above the tanks, dive on them and shoot the top. This is quite risky since the climbing makes you a slow target visible for many AAA and fighters in the area, and it also prolongs the time you spend over the target (which you of course want to minimize).

Other efficient antitank weapons in IL-2s arsenal are - Cassettes and VAP-250 on early versions, PTAB on later versions. These loadouts work great when attacking tanks in column, but you have to drop them very accurately, since they do no damage if they land besides the tank - they have to hit the top of the tanks! Line up the column very accurately, fly about 20 meters high and drop the loadout. In case of VAP-250, fly at about 40-50 meters. PTAB is extremely efficient, but you only have one drop, so you have to find as many tanks lined up as you can. The best antitank weapon in game is undoubtly BRS-132. You need to score a direct hit, but that should not be a problem after some practicing. Direct hit it always destroys a tank, even the biggest ones. The only problem is you are only carrying two pairs for two shots. If you really try hard enough, you can however get two tanks with a single shot, but it's risky since both rockets can miss and you've wasted them: